❄️ Layoffs Cool & 😬 Surprising Round 1 Tech Tournament Upsets
Mar 12, 2024 - Top Tech Tournament Round 1 Results + Layoffs way down in March
Based on reader feedback, we’ll be switching up the format in future weeks. Comment with what you’d like to see.
💼 Layoffs way down in March, but job growth normalizing, too
💸 5 Science-based Resume Tips
🔥 Company Power Rankings: Top Tech Tournament Round 1 Results 🥇
💼 Who’s Hiring?
💰 23 Top Paying Tech Roles
⏱️ IPO Watch
💼 Hiring Trends
🏀 The 3-Pointer
Layoffs to start March are much lower than Jan/Feb by this time of the month. We can predict layoffs to continue stalling until Q3/Q4, as co’s try to hit FY targets
Job openings were accelerating fast in Q1, but started to flatten this week
Meta and Google layoffs this month were <50 people each
💸 Get Hired
🧰 Job Search & Negotiation Tips
5 science-based resume tips (these are basic, but >75% of resumes I review from coaching clients miss most of them)
Show. Don’t tell.
Show measurable achievements, not just responsibilities. Metrics make resumes 40% more likely to get interviews. Example: "Led the launch of 2 new pricing tiers that lifted signups by 75% by conducting customer pricing research." (Source: Austin Belcack's study of 125,484 resumes)Be concise.
Keeping resumes to 500-600 words and 1-2 pages. Resumes over 600 words are 43% less likely to get interviews. Example: Ethan Evans, former VP at Amazon with 30 years of experience, has a 2-page, 700-word resume. (Source: TalentWorks study of 6,000+ job applications)Prioritize.
Prioritize important info on the left and top of resume sections. Eye-tracking shows recruiters scan in an F-pattern, reading little. Example: Make company names left-aligned and bolded, and put most impactful bullets first in each section. (Source: The Ladders eye-tracking study)Cut the fluff.
Cut fluff like buzzwords, adverbs, pronouns, and subjective self-ratings. Demonstrate skills with examples instead. Example: Instead of "Successfully implemented X software", use "Implemented X software, resulting in 95% daily usage by the support team." (Source: Hiring managers and recruiters)Use (the right amount) of job keywords.
Use relevant keywords from job descriptions. Matching 50%+ of keywords improves chances by 59%. Example: Move keywords from the top of resumes down to a skills section at the bottom, embedded in job bullet points, or a technologies bullet under key roles. (Source: Rahul Pandey, ex-Meta Lead Engineer & TalentWorks study of 6,000+ job applications)
📈 Company Power Rankings
🏅Top Tech Tournament 2024 - Round 1 Results
AI:
1. OpenAI defeated Anthropic, 80.7% to 19.3%
2. Google DeepMind defeated Hugging Face, 62% to 38%
3. Mistral AI defeated Inflection AI, 78.4% to 21.6%
4. Anduril Industries defeated Scale AI, 55% to 45%
Fintech:
5. Stripe defeated Plaid, 71.7% to 28.3%
6. Coinbase defeated Robinhood, 61.9% to 38.1%
7. Brex defeated Klarna, 50% to 50% (Brex advanced on LI/Blind votes)
Creative:
8. Canva defeated Adobe, 52.5% to 47.5%
Microchips/Silicon:
9. NVIDIA defeated Arm, 90.9% to 9.1%
10. AMD defeated Intel Corporation, 74.4% to 25.6%
Data:
11. Databricks defeated Snowflake, 58.5% to 41.5%
DevTools:
12. GitHub defeated GitLab, 84.6% to 15.4%
Elon:
13. Tesla defeated The Boring Company, 92.1% to 7.9%
14. Neuralink defeated xAI, 58.8% to 41.2%
No Code:
15. Notion defeated Airtable, 68.4% to 31.6%
16. Webflow defeated Zapier, 55.2% to 44.8%
Entertainment:
17. Netflix defeated Spotify, 82.5% to 17.5%
E-Commerce:
18. Shopify defeated SHEIN, 89.5% to 10.5%
Gaming:
19. Epic Games defeated Electronic Arts, 76.5% to 23.5%
20. Roblox defeated Niantic, 81.6% to 18.4%
Marketplaces:
21. DoorDash defeated Instacart, 72.2% to 27.8%
22. Airbnb defeated Uber, 68.3% to 31.7%
23. CloudKitchens defeated Faire, 54.8% to 45.2%
Space:
24. SpaceX defeated Blue Origin, 80% to 20%
Self-Driving Cars:
25. Nuro defeated Pony ai, 86.2% to 13.8%
26. Waymo (Alphabet) defeated Cruise (GM), 83.3% to 16.7%
Social Media:
27. TikTok (Bytedance) defeated Snap, 66.7% to 33.3%
28. Meta defeated Reddit, 89.2% to 10.8%
29. LinkedIn (Microsoft) defeated X (Twitter), 81.8% to 18.2%
30. YouTube (Alphabet) defeated Twitch (Amazon), 82.9% to 17.1%
Trillion Tech:
31. Apple defeated Microsoft, 66.7% to 33.3%
32. Google defeated Amazon, 70.6% to 29.4%
Vote for Round 2 at TopTechTournament com
Now it's time to take action…
Here are this week's company power rankings, so go start those reach-outs!
Legend:
💸 Pays top of market
💰 Pays competitively
🔥 Heating Up
Tip: Consider these as targets
Epic Games: Apple has reinstated Epic's developer account after previously canceling it due to the companies' ongoing feud. This move signals a potential thawing of relations between the two tech giants.
Reddit: The social media platform's closely watched public debut on the NYSE is generating buzz, with some speculating it could mark the return of the "junk stock IPO," while others are optimistic about its staying power.
💵 Raised Funds This Week
Tip: Should be hiring soon. Reach out to hiring managers before they even post the jobs
Axonius (New York): $200M Series E at $2.6B valuation. Cybersecurity for connected devices.
Dtex Systems (San Jose, CA): $50M Series E at $400M+ valuation. Insider threat detection using machine learning.
RapidSOS (New York): $75M Series D extension. AI for emergency response.
Overjet (Boston, MA): $53.2M funding. AI for dental diagnosis.
Ema (San Francisco): $25M funding. AI to automate tasks across job functions.
Harness Wealth (New York): $17M Series A extension. Financial and tax advice for startup founders/employees.
☁️ Proceed with Caution
Worldcoin: The crypto startup known for scanning users' eyeballs has been banned in Spain for three months due to privacy concerns, indicating potential regulatory hurdles and public backlash.
Tesla: The electric car maker's only factory in Europe suffered over $1 billion in damages from an attack by eco-terrorists, highlighting the company's vulnerability to sabotage and the challenges of operating in politically charged environments.
Terraform Labs: Despite a Montenegro court once again canceling the extradition of disgraced co-founder Do Kwon to the U.S., the company remains mired in legal troubles and faces an uncertain future.
🚀 Who's Hiring
Companies posting new roles this week
Anduril (surveillance and defense systems) 🦄
Many software engineer, mission software engineer, and modeling & simulation roles
Valuation: $8B, total funding: $2.2B
Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Thrive Capital
Coinbase (cryptocurrency exchange) 🌎
Backend, frontend, site reliability engineer roles
Public company, valuation: $49B
Remote roles in USA and Canada
Databricks (data analytics) 🦄
Many software engineer and machine learning engineer roles
Valuation: $43B, total funding: $4.0B, on IPO watchlist
Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Insight Partners, Battery Ventures
Abnormal Security (email security) 🦄
Backend, machine learning, site reliability engineer roles
Valuation: $4B, total funding: $284M
Backed by Greylock Partners, Insight Partners, layoff 12 months ago
Scale (AI training data) 🦄
Software engineer, applied AI, machine learning research roles
Valuation: $7B, total funding: $603M
Backed by Accel Partners, Founders Fund, Index Ventures, Y Combinator, Thrive Capital
Samsara (IoT solutions)
Senior software engineer, machine learning, security roles
Public company, valuation: $19B
Remote roles in US and Canada
Astera Labs (fabless semiconductor) 🦄
Verification, product, cloud infrastructure engineer roles
Valuation: $3B, total funding: $206M, on IPO watchlist
OneTrust (privacy management) 🦄
Software engineer, quality engineer, AI/ML roles
Valuation: $5B, total funding: $1.1B
Flagged for bottom 10% employee happiness
CrowdStrike (cybersecurity)
Software engineer, UI engineer, intern roles
Public company, valuation: $78B
100% remote roles in USA
Stripe (payments) 🦄 🌎
Software engineer, edge and security roles
Valuation: $50B, total funding: $8.7B
Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Union Square Ventures
Layoff 9 months ago
Discord (chat application) 🦄
Software engineer, ML, design, infrastructure roles
Valuation: $15B, total funding: $995M
Backed by Accel Partners, Benchmark, General Catalyst, Greylock Partners, Index Ventures
Layoff 2 months ago
Uber (ridesharing)
Senior software engineer, AI, cyber defense roles
Public company, valuation: $165B
Layoff 1 month ago
Anthropic (AI systems) 🦄
Research prompt engineer role
Valuation: $4B, total funding: $3.3B
Chime (online banking) 🦄
Software engineer, machine learning roles
Valuation: $25B, total funding: $2.3B
Backed by Sequoia Capital
Rippling (HR software) 🦄
Fullstack and machine learning engineer roles
Valuation: $11B, total funding: $1.2B
Backed by Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, Kleiner Perkins
Copy
Top 23 Highest Paying Roles In The US
Here's a bullet point list format for all 23 tech jobs, ranked and with key compensation details:
These are median, top 25%, and top 10% compensation levels across all levels for all of the US, so they may be higher or lower depending on region and data availability.
#23 Customer Service Representative
Median Compensation: $70,000
Notes: Most distributed role, highly remote-friendly.
#22 Business Analyst
Median Compensation: $109,000
Top 10% Compensation: Over $180,000
#21 IT Specialist
Median Compensation: $114,000
Top Compensation: Over $200,000 for managers
#20 Technical Writer
Median Compensation: $133,000
#19 Security Analyst
Median Compensation: $135,000
Top Compensation: Over $200,000 at senior levels
#18 QA Tester (Software Development and Engineering Tester)
Median Compensation: $139,000
Top Compensation: Over $200,000 at senior levels
#17 Recruiter
Median Compensation: $139,000
Top Compensation: Over $200,000 for manager levels
#16 Project Manager
Median Compensation: $139,000
Top Compensation: Over $200,000 at top companies
#15 DevOps Engineer
Median Compensation: $150,000
Top 25% Compensation: Over $200,000, with top levels reaching over $250,000
#14 Marketer
Median Compensation: $157,000
Top Compensation: Over $200,000, potentially up to $300,000 for high-level positions
#13 Sales Manager
Median Compensation: $160,000
Top 10% Compensation: At least $320,000
#12 Product Designer
Median Compensation: $154,000
Top 25% Compensation: Over $200,000, with senior levels nearing $300,000-$400,000
#11 Data Scientist
Median Compensation: $162,000
Top 25% Compensation: Over $218,000, with top roles at $300,000-$400,000
#10 Program Manager
Median Compensation: $178,000
Top 10% Compensation: Over $300,000
#9 Solution Architect
Median Compensation: $195,000
Top 10% Compensation: Over $300,000
#8 Sales Engineer
Median Compensation: $200,000
Top 10% Compensation: Over $300,000, with potential payouts of $400,000-$500,000
#7 Product Manager
Median Compensation: $202,000
Top 25% Compensation: Over $270,000; Top 10% over $300,000
#6 Technical Program Manager
Median Compensation: $220,000
Top 25% Compensation: Over $300,000; Top 10% over $375,000
#5 Data Science Manager
Median Compensation: $235,000
Top 10% Compensation: Over $400,000
#4 Product Design Manager
Median Compensation: $242,000
Top 25% Compensation: Over $350,000; Top 10% over $490,000
#3 Software Engineer
Median Compensation: $173,000
Top 10% Compensation: Over $350,000, with potential in big tech to reach $400,000-$600,000
#2 AI Engineer
Median Compensation: $250,000
Top 10% Compensation: Over $460,000; specific roles at OpenAI at $950,000
#1 Software Engineering Manager
Median Compensation: $300,000
Top 25% Compensation: Over $430,000; Top 10% over $581,000. Directors at places like Meta exceed $1.5 million.
🕒 IPO Watch
🟢 Promising
Circle - Major USDC stablecoin developer confidentially filed for IPO
Shein - Chinese fast fashion giant seeking approval for US IPO, but Beijing investigating
Zeekr - Chinese electric vehicle company planning 2024 IPO
Reddit - Social media community platform planning March or April IPO, but could push
Rubrik - Data management and security company pushed back plans to Spring 2024 or later
SeatGeek - Sports/concert ticket marketplace filed for IPO in April 2023, expected in 2024
Turo - Car-sharing startup has delayed IPO plans a few times, but could go public in 2024
🟡 Still waiting
High-paying 💸 Databricks, 💸 Plaid, and 💸 Stripe have all not yet revealed IPO plans
Unfortunately, 💸 Databricks, SpaceX, and 💸 Stripe have all allowed employees to sell shares to investors recently to delay the need for an IPO
Navan, Fanatics, and Klarna have all been quieter after earlier IPO speculation
📈 Recent IPOs:
Oddity Direct-to-consumer beauty brand
Arm England-based chip designer
Klaviyo Marketing automation platform
Instacart Grocery delivery
Forward Top Tech to a friend! Everyone should be building their job options in 2024